technology

What will they think of next?

Want your besties to know where you are---wherever you are? Interested in their whereabouts? Then download Whereboutz, a new free Facebook application by Telenav that adds legs to the Status Update that appears on your profile. It can also be downloaded to 100 different cell phones.

Whereboutz lets you type in your location on an interactive map and add a note telling what you’re up to. When your friend does the same, you can use a yellow-pages-type search function to help you figure out where to meet. If you can’t meet up in person, at least you can ruefully visualize the distance between you on a map and better understand how geography creates miles between even the best of friends..

Oh, one more opportunity for connecting: If you’re already on Facebook, you know about “pokes”---well, if your friend hasn‘t updated her status in a while, there is a gentle Whereboutz “nudge” function to remind her.

For more information and to sign up, visit www.whereboutz.com.

If you have a Facebook page, you’re familiar with the News Feed function that helps friends stay abreast of each other’s Facebook activities. When I saw that one of my friends had joined Journalists and Facebook, I took a look at the group and signed up too. When I saw the Friend Wheel application another friend added, I decided to do the same. And so it goes.

Each time I sign on to Facebook, I still look at what everyone is up to but I wonder whether it’s worth my time given that some of my virtual “friends” and their interests are pretty peripheral to my life...